Blast traps 166 Chinese coal miners

BEIJING - A gas explosion tore through a coal mine in northern China on Sunday, trapping as many as 166 miners in what could be the worst disaster to hit the world's most dangerous mining industry in four years.

At least 127 miners escaped from the state-owned Chenjiashan Coalmine in Shaanxi province after Sunday morning's explosion, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Of those, 41 were in hospital, five with serious injuries, Xinhua said on its website (www.xinhuanet.com). Some of the escaped miners had suffered carbon monoxide poisoning.

"Workers at the mouth of the Chenjiashan coal mine discovered thick smoke pouring out of ventilation shafts, and that communication with the inside of the mine had been cut off," said the website of the People's Daily (www.people.com.cn), mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party.

Photographs of the scene obtained by Reuters showed rescuers carrying a blackened person on a stretcher. It was unclear if the person had been burned or if he was covered in coal dust.

In another photo, an elderly woman in a thick brown cotton jacket knelt and wept while awaiting word of a relative believed trapped in the mine.

Some 2,000 rescue workers rushed to the scene along with acting provincial governor Chen Deming. Rescuers advanced several hundred metres into the mine but were blocked by heavy smoke, state media said.

State television showed ambulances speeding down dusty roads, past rows of workers and residents, and said the mine was known for its high concentration of gas.

An official contacted at the mine, near the city of Tongchuan about 740 km southwest of Beijing, said he had no information about the cause of the blast or casualties. Several other government officials declined to comment.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, speaking to reporters in the Lao capital of Vientiane, said the accident highlighted the need for more high-level attention to safety measures.

"We not only must find out all the details of the disaster and seriously get to the root of who is responsible, moreover we must make efforts in safety and prevention measures," said Wen, a former geologist.

Sunday's blast occurred two days after the Shaanxi government ordered tougher mine inspections and closure of any mines with insufficient or substandard ventilation.

China's coal mine industry, which provides the primary fuel for the world's seventh-biggest economy, has a dismal safety record that has been grimly underscored by a series of major accidents this year.

A coal mine blast in the central province of Henan this month killed 33 miners. That followed an October explosion, also in Henan, which killed 148 miners.

The new incident could be the worst since a September 2000 explosion in the southern province of Guizhou killed 162 people.

Online postings on Xinhua's website bemoaned the state of an industry that killed 4,153 workers in the first nine months of this year.

"Why do these accidents keep happening one after another? Why don't the relevant authorities do something about it? Are Chinese people's lives worth less than money?" asked one person in an anonymous posting.

Beijing has tried to clamp down on safety violations at many mines, and official figures show coal mine deaths in the first nine months were down by 630, more than 13 per cent, from the same period a year earlier.

The Chenjiashan mine, administered by the Tongchuan Mining Administration, is capable of producing 2.3 million tonnes of coal a year, state media said.

- REUTERS